I’m Your Fuller Brush Man and I Have a Gift for You

Back in the days people actually let salesman come into their homes (coincidentally also when you could trust salesmen to come into your home), the Fuller Brush man peddled brushes throughout the United States.  Unlike Avon and Amway and closer to the ice cream man today, the Fuller Brush man (and woman) bought their own supplies and relied on their own skills to move the merchandise, keeping 50% of the sale price.  The company's slogan was, "45 Brushes—69 Uses—Head to Foot—Cellar to Attic".  In 1956, the Fuller line was expanded to include aerosols, detergents, vitamins, cosmetics, and chemicals.

Many years ago, I came across this letter opener in a quarter box at a garage sale.

Apparently, these were gifts handed out by the Fuller Brush man as either a thank you for your order, or an ice breaker to get you to buy their product.  I love the fedora and suit.  If he showed up at my door, I think I'd probably let him in -- but I still don't think I'd buy anything.

Fuller Brush is still in business, but don't expect them to come to your door.  You order online now, the man that made them famous walks no more.

The Pause that Refreshes -- If You're Not Very Thirsty...

I went to an estate sale this weekend.  I've never been a big fan of estate sales, for reasons I've espoused previously.  But recently, I joined an estate sale online group that emails locations of upcoming garage sales.  They display pictures for the sale, so it's nice to get a feel for what's there.  If only they would post the prices too...  I stopped at one in Dogtown Saturday and found this:

I've always been a fan of Coca Cola, the drink as well as and the imagery and collectibles associated with it.  The fact that all of the bottles come out sold me.  I've seen these online, but can't find much information about them.  I'm not sure if they were premiums or toys.  I have the real version of the yellow tray and have it hung on the wall in my basement for a display case.

Glasses with Character

When I was little, my sister and I would have sleepovers with my oldest sister.  Due to the age difference, she was more like an aunt to us.  On those occasions, we would always go out to lunch somewhere.  We didn't eat out much when I was a kid, even at McDonald's, so anything was a treat.  My sister would always ask whether we wanted to go to Pizza Hut or Taco Bell.  This was around 1975 and both were new to St. Louis.  They also both happened to stand right next to each at the intersection of Weber and Gravois roads.  Pizza Hut is still there, but Taco Bell's recognizable structure has been converted into a Chinese restaurant.

No matter how much hinting my oldest sister would make toward Taco Bell, we always chose Pizza Hut.  It was around this time, Pizza Hut had a promotion with Pepsi for giveaway glasses with Warner Bros. characters on them.  I recall getting Henery Hawk and my sister getting Petnuia Pig -- 2 third tier characters from the Warner's roster.  I didn't even know who Henery Hawk was -- still too young to appreciate Foghorn Leghorn, I was a dyed-in-the-wool Bugs Bunny fan.

I had that glass for years, but it finally broke a few years ago.  This past summer, I came across 2 of these glasses, and one just happened to be Henery.  I paid a quarter each for these.

Hark the Herald Angels Sing!

When I was young, the weeks leading up the Christmas were almost unbearable.  The days dragged.   Now the days fly so fast, I find myself posting Christmas albums to my blog after New Year's has passed.

In preparation for Christmas (as if I needed further ramping up), my mom would play Christmas albums on the family's Magnavox console stereo.  These first 3 up were my favorites.  They were premiums from A&P Groceries (where my father worked), Goodyear and Firestone.

Happy Noisy New Year!

When I was little, my parents always went out for New Year's Eve.  My brother would stay home and watch my sister and I (except for the year he told us not to kill ourselves and then left).  I usually made it until midnight, beating pots and pans together, but I was never still up when my parents got home.  Getting up the next morning, my sister and I always played with their hats and party noisemakers they would bring home with them.

A few years ago, I found some vintage metal noisemakers at a garage sale.  I love the graphics on these.

Upon closer inspection, I noticed inside that these had been made from recycled tin containers.  Most noticeably, one was an old Johnson & Johnson gauze bandage box:

This one had me baffled as it wasn't in English and had no noticeable graphics.  You really can't see much from this picture:

However, using a flashlight and looking further inside, I found the words "Peter Möller" and a picture of a girl thrusting a sword through a fish.  Googling Peter Möller, I found it was as cod liver oil company out of Norway.  The logo has changed slightly over the years.  No longer does the girl impale the fish, but rather now a ray of sun shines from a spoon in her hand:

As to why these were reused in the making of the noisemakers, I have a theory.  I would guess these were made in Japan and exported to the U.S. in the late 40's and early 50's. Being as devastated as Japan was following the war, they certainly would have needed bandages.  And according to a history of Moller's at their website, "After the war, medicinal cod liver oil retains its high status as an important dietary supplement in the “rebuilding" of the country. Cod liver oil becomes an 'emergency product in ravaged areas where the supply situation is difficult.'"

Medicines and bandages to heal the body converted to noisemakers to heal the economy.  That's a lot of history wrapped up in a simple noisemaker.

A Merry Mid-century Christmas Continued

Each year we cut our Christmas tree down the day (or a couple) after Thanksgiving.  This year was no different, except we chose a Norway Spruce instead of our usual Scotch Pine.  About a week before Christmas, I began hearing the sound of needles falling.  Usually, we don't have an issue with this, but either due to the different type of tree or the drought we've seen here in the midwest this past fall, it was raining spruce needles like a spring torrent.  When ornaments began to fall off the tree when the branches would no longer support them, we decided it was time for the tree to come down.  It was only the day after Christmas.  Normally, we leave the tree up at least until after New Year's Day, but there was no way.  So, my wife suggested we put up our aluminum tree.  The tree was my family's before I was born.  Here's a couple shots from December 1967.  I was 3 month's old.  That's me in the striped onesie:

The Elf of the Shelf is Watching You!

This past fall, I found this in a box of 25 cent items.  At first, I passed on him, but then I went back.  Although I initially found him scary, his kitchiness won me over.  Although it was still prior to Halloween, I set him up on our shelf.

Then came the commercials for Elf on the Shelf.  I couldn't resist singing the song to my kids and replacing the lyric "...each and every Christmas" with the lyric, "...watching you be bad!"  The older kids found it funny, but my two youngest are sincerely disturbed by it.  They've become very distrustful of the elf.  It could be the cocky pose in which I've placed him.  He looks down arrogantly upon us.  "Why is he watching me?" my 2-year-old asked just a few minutes ago.  I explained the candy vs coal scenario after which she assured me she preferred candy.  My 5-year-old  despises him.  Freakish gnome, daring to rat him out to the big man. I can understand his hatred of the elf -- out of the family, he probably runs the highest risk of being reported .   If the elf ever disappears, I'll know who to blame.

As for the Elf of the Shelf website, it's unwieldly at best.  And it took a significant amount of time to dredge down to the reason for its existence (which oddly isn't explained in the commercials).  It's a promotion for a children's book which I haven't even seen in the book stores (and I was just in the children's section of a Barnes & Noble several days ago).